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Monthly Archives: March 2012

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This past Saturday the hubby and I took Nick to the Asian market in White Plains. It. Was. Awesome. Just look at this mountain of ginger!

We were all ready for our General Tso Chicken and Fried Pork Dumplings (which were much easier to make than I remember from cooking school). I started on the pork dumplings first since they’re so time consuming. For the filling:

1 lb Ground Pork

4 large shiitake mushrooms

1 large scallion, chopped

1T fresh ginger, minced

1T garlic, minced

2T dark soy sauce

1/2 T Sirracha

1/2 T Hoisin sauce

Salt & Pepper

Mine looked like this before the blades got to it:

Can I just tell you how insane this smelled? I swear I could sniff ginger for hours. Pulse this bad boy until everything is combined. Set up your assembly line for the making of the dumplings! You will need: a cup of water, dumpling wrappers, a lightly floured surface, and the pork mixture. Form your dumplings! To remind myself how to form the little effers I watched a nice lady on YouTube show me how to do it.

Heat canola oil in a large frying pan and add dumplings. Once the bottom of the dumpling is nicely browned add water (I put in enough to come 1/3 of the way up the dumpling). Cover and steam 5-7 minutes. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

So this chicken that I made turned out not-so-much like General Tso chicken but it was gooo-ood. Next time I would make it with more sauce.

A few months ago I found an old hand-crank ice cream maker hidden away in my in-law’s basement (along with a number of other random things). My mother-in-law told me that she had gotten it for Christmas in the early ’90s. Amazing! This poor guy just sitting in the cabinet unused for DECADES! I am now picturing a Toy Story-esque movie about all those totally unused, forgotten kitchen appliances. Is there any way I can use this in the future when Pixar comes out with a movie just like that? I’d watch it. Anyway… after I opened the beast up I made grapefruit sorbet, pineapple sorbet, strawberry ice cream… I went nuts. The only one that wasn’t a total winner was blueberry. It was eh, not really much of a taste, but gorgeous in color! Mango sorbet is the only one I’ve made so far that I’ve documented so here it is:

Peel and chop up the mango (I used 2)

Process in a blender

Strain

After I strained the mango puree I added 1/2 C of water and 2T of simple syrup.

This is what happens on days when I do 37,305 loads of laundry, clean Nicky’s room, my room, the bathroom…… Time to find whatever we have stashed away, lying around or what is “about to turn” (thank you Waiting). Almost time for dinner and I have to figure something out! Grab 2 slices of bacon, one leek, a half of a small onion, 4 medium cloves of garlic, one can of College Inn chicken broth, and 4 small-medium sized potatoes.

PREP!

First, render the bacon until it’s crispy, take it out and add a little more canola oil, maybe a half a tablespoon or so. Add the leeks and onions and saute those bad boys until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute until you can really smell it then add the chicken broth, 2 cups of hot water and potatoes, boil until the potatoes are nice and soft.

Once the potatoes are nice and soft add 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of half & half that have been heated! You don’t want to stop your cooking process! Bring this to a boil, put heat on low and puree soup (I used a hand or immersion blender, you can use a regular ole blender) until it’s nice and smooth. Keep warm. We served this soup with grated cheese and a small dollop of sour cream.